Opening a shop

This is a discussion on Opening a shop within the Flower Chat (Public) forums, part of the Public Forums category; Hi there my names Dale im from Bradford England. Me &amp; my partner have been thinking about opening a florist ...

Hi there my names Dale im from Bradford England. Me & my partner have been thinking about opening a florist shop for some time now but have never got around to doing it. we planned to get some training then look for suitable premises. The only problem is weve been offered a local shop on a busy main road for extremely low rent. if we dont take it the shop will be let by someone else very soon. we can have the shop rent free for three months if we do some minor repairs. as we have no previous floristry experience do you think it is posssible in the three months to get a bit of training and be able to bluff our way through opening. Its an opportunity that would be a shame to miss, thanks,Dale.

I think you would struggle to get enough training to make it viable in 3 months, you won't be ableto do a recognised course in that amount of time and it might be tricky getting shop experience with how quiet business is at the moment, especially if people get a sniff of why you need experience and you wanting to start your own business.

You need alot more than 3 months of experience to make a florist shop work, if you're happy to employ a fully qualified experienced florist full time and learn from what they have to offer you then maybe it could be worth a go - unless this is possible i don't feel it would be a good idea i'm afraid.

Sorry its probably not what you want to hear, but most florist owners have many years of college & shop experience behind them.

Do you intend to employ a florsit?
Will you listen to what they have to say?
How will you look after your stock?
Will you know what sort of tempretures to keep things?
Will you know how to get the best vase life for the stock?
Do you know how to price your work, designs and time?
Will you know what type of design/arrangment the customer is asking for?

These are the first few things that come to mind
I went to College thinking it was gonna be a doddle ~ it isn't ~ I left College after 2 years with Distinction plus on both years ~ have had my shop for just under 3 months and still worrying am I doing it right ~

As a new business person I still am learning things
As a florist I'M STILL learning things

So without any Florist training behind you IMO your going to find it very very hard to ''blag'' you way through unless you get an experienced florist in the shop and let them be in charge of the Floristic side of things ~ but thats my opinion